Thread: We know what % of the gangs are illegal

Gang crime surging in Valley
Critics charge L.A.'s efforts not working


Gang crime in the San Fernando Valley has jumped almost 15 percent since the start of the year, despite a highly publicized effort by Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to aggressively crack down on street gangs.

Vowing to head off the rising crime rates, released Tuesday by the LAPD, Villaraigosa said the Valley will be among the top priorities for recently appointed gang czar Jeff Carr as he tries to tackle a dangerous, entrenched culture.

"After last year's surge in Valley gang activity, we knew that combating violence from Canoga Park to North Hollywood would remain one of our toughest challenges," Villaraigosa said. "We will get Valley communities the resources they need to implement new innovative and effective intervention programs."

Though Valley gang homicides are down slightly, police are concerned a spike in shootings and assaults could signal a deeper gang problem taking root.

"We are not trying to downplay the obvious," LAPD Assistant Chief Earl Paysinger said. "The numbers are going up, but not categorically. What we see is the same kind of problem in South and Central bureaus several years ago. We are trying to head off the problem before it becomes problematic."

Police blame the rash of violence on an increase of parolees being released from jail, more activity from the notorious Mara Salvatrucha gang and a growing number of tagging crews turning into full-fledged gangs.

According to the LAPD's internal statistics - separate from a statewide database on gang crime known as CalGang - Valley gang killings dropped during the first six months of this year. As of June 30, 19 people were killed in gang attacks compared with 22 last year.

Johnny Cano, 15, was the year's first victim of gang violence when he was shot several times in January after gang members in Van Nuys mistook him for a rival.

"It's a geographic area that we haven't found an answer to," Paysinger said. "We are not going away, not going to stop and we are not going to lose our focus."

In the Valley, gang-related shootings rose to 102 over the first six months of 2007, up from 90 last year. And the numbers of shots fired crept up slightly over the same time last year - to 186 from 183.

The onslaught of bad statistical news comes as Villaraigosa's and Bratton's heavily touted anti-gang plan enters its sixth month.

Unveiled in February, the effort sought to quash skyrocketing gang violence in the Valley, where violent crime jumped 44 percent in 2006 and 14 percent citywide.

The LAPD created a 50-officer violent-crime task force in the Valley, increased cooperation with federal and local officials and announced a controversial top-10 list targeting gangs and their members.

It also focused on some of the city's most violent areas in South Los Angeles and the Harbor area, where a racially motivated gang killing of a 14-year-old African-American girl grabbed national headlines and became a symbol of the city's race and gang tensions.

But critics say that after months of promises and rising crime in the Valley, Villaraigosa has been slow to make real reforms in reaching the city's 40,000 gang members.

"Surge and purge works short-term. The real question is do you see any sustained reduction in the youth-gang homicide rate. The answer is no," said Connie Rice, a civil-rights attorney who recently authored an exhaustive city-sponsored report critical of its own anti-gang strategy. "They are doing the easy stuff. It's not clear if they are ever going to get to the hard stuff."

In North Hills, residents complain that despite increased police patrols, the Los Angeles Police Department often takes hours to respond to complaint calls about gang members.

A recent Daily Breeze article documented the city's failure to bring in new prevention and intervention efforts in Harbor Gateway.

In an afternoon press conference Tuesday, Bratton touted the plan's success, saying significant gains were made across the city despite an uptick of violence in the Valley.

"We project that crime will continue to go down in the next six-month cycle and I fully expect that when we come back here in early January we will be reporting even more significant crime declines," Bratton said. "I think I can safely predict it will be one of the largest in the United States."

Citywide, gang killings fell to 102 this year compared with 143 last year. Overall, violent gang crime dropped only 1 percent throughout L.A.

Bratton had set a goal of reducing overall crime 5 percent by the end of the year. Most significantly, he said there are 40 fewer gang-related homicides this year than last year.

And though some aggressive efforts to clean up tough neighborhoods have paid off, police say ramping up their efforts has led to more confrontations, with attacks against officers up 35 percent across the city.

On Jan. 5 in North Hills, an officer responding to a call about an armed gang member was shot in the leg. The 13-year police veteran worked in the Mission Division, an area that had seen a more than 100 percent increase in gang-related crime last year.

Over the first six months of 2007, it's the only bright spot in the Valley. Known for its concentration of gangs, the division has seen a 15 percent decline in gang crime, while every other Valley division has seen an increase.

Mission is also home to Communities in Schools, an anti-gang program that oversees nearly half a dozen gang interventionists. Its president, Bobby Arias, said strides have been made.

"We buried 36 kids last year. Any shooting is a bad situation but ... our feeling is that it's relatively calm," he said. "Have we had flare-ups? No question. But we don't want to create a feeling in the community that it is unsafe out there and we are running roughshod."

We are trying to head off the problem before it becomes problematic."

... Cut off illegal immigration totally by stop being a sanctuary city, enroll in 287(g), arrest and deport illegals, penalize the employers of illegals, cut off social, educational and medical services to illegals...and the large majority of your gang problem goes away. What is left is much more manageable.

We are trying to head off the problem before it becomes problematic

I would consider a 40% rise in gang violence as problematic!

Caasduit, Do you have a link to this article?

I think a 40% increase in gang violence as a crises. We are experiencing a big increase in gang violence in both Miami-Dade and Browrad counties. Some of the illegals involved are not only Hispanic but Haitian as well. I can't say off hand what percentage it is though.

Originally Posted by SOSADFORUS

Caasduit, Do you have a link to this article?

http://www.dailynews.com/ci_6399728?source=rss

While on the subject of gangs I read this article today. Being from L.A. illegals were not mentioned but they can also be involved as it is a Hispanic gang.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nation ... 1927.story

California Mom Accused in Gang Murder
By ANDREW GLAZER | Associated Press Writer
5:57 PM EDT, July 18, 2007

LONG BEACH, Calif. - Mothers have lied, spun elaborate alibis and hidden evidence for their gang-member sons. But investigators say Eva Daley went to murderous lengths.

Daley, 30, drove her 14-year-old son and six other members of the Latin Marijuana Smokers gang to a skate park to kill a 13-year-old boy they had a grudge against, police say. The boy, Jose "Bobby" Cano, was stabbed to death.

"I'm shaking my head at this because I thought I had heard of everything," said Gary Hearnsberger, head of the Hardcore Gang Division at the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.



Daley and the seven teenagers were charged with murder in the June 26 slaying near the squalid skate park in this port city of 462,000 about 25 miles south of Los Angeles.

Daley was jailed on $1 million bail and pleaded not guilty Tuesday. The teens, ages 14 to 17, face hearings to determine whether they will be tried as adults. Police said at least three more juveniles are being sought.

Police refused to say where the mother was during the attack itself or immediately afterward. And they would not say what led to the arrests, or what the killers had against Cano.

"There is a lot of father-son gang participation, even grandfather-father-son. But it's unusual to see mothers cheering on their sons in a violent gang conflict," said gang expert Alex Alonso, who runs the Web site streetgangs.com. "They usually are naive about their son's activity, in denial. They always think other kids are involved in gangs but not theirs."

Similar cases have surfaced in recent months. In a community outside Los Angeles, a 37-year-old mother drove her son's friends to a rival gang member's home for a drive-by shooting, police said. The mother was charged with assault.

In October, police arrested a 42-year-old woman suspected of driving her two sons and three others in an SUV to a Los Angeles neighborhood to scrawl it with graffiti. The charges were dropped for lack of evidence.

Prosecutors in Long Beach said Daley drove the teenagers to the scene "in furtherance of the gang" -- an allegation that could add 10 years to her 25-years-to-life sentence if she is convicted.

Police said Daley knew her son and the others planned to kill Cano.

"She wasn't taking them there to play in the park," Officer Jackie Bezart said.

Deputy District Attorney John Lonergan said investigators were still trying to determine whether Cano was a gang member or someone who had simply crossed the gang in some way.

Police and Cano's family said he had been involved in at least one previous fight with the others.

After Daley's arraignment Tuesday, a man supporting her screamed and lunged at Cano's family in a courthouse hallway and attacked a cameraman.

Standing nearby, Cano's bleary-eyed mother, who declined to give her name, said she was more angry at Daley than at those who stabbed her son.

"Taking children to do this?" she said in Spanish. "This I don't understand."

Is there a link to the main article??


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------ "ACTIVE PROJECTS"----PLEASE GET INVOLVED -----
WILLIAMS IN DC AND NEEDS HELP!!
CALLING ALL ALIPACERS AND LOOKIE LOU'S DO YOU WANT OUR LAWS ENFORCED? PLEASE HELP! LINK BELOW!
http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... 843#424843
Stop the "DreamAct"
http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... ic&t=73960
DIXIE NEEDS HELP ON A PROJECT!!
http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... ic&t=73375
ALIPAC needs donations to stay afloat and in the fight Please give what you can!!
http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=C ... page&pid=9

How many people want to bet the gang problem in LA is MUCH worse than what we're hearing here?

I knew a retired LA county sheriff who told me a little story about "downing statistics". What he said, in essence, is that the criminal justice system in LA (county and city) is changing how crimes are reported and prosecuted (through plea bargains for example) to make crime stats look better than they really are. I asked him to go to the news media with his story but he refused. He thought Sheriff Lee Baca was corrupt.

Here are the FBI stats by city and state for the US:

http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/06prelim/t4al_ca.htm

Originally Posted by jimpasz

Originally Posted by SOSADFORUS

Caasduit, Do you have a link to this article?

http://www.dailynews.com/ci_6399728?source=rss

Thanks jimpasz, I thought Dixie might be able to use it in her researcj!!